


It Is Our Truth

by QualityGamerMama



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alien Culture, Eridian Culture, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, hanahaki
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-03 23:47:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14007486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QualityGamerMama/pseuds/QualityGamerMama
Summary: Mordecai stumbles upon two girls in Eridium while poking around the tunnel Handsome Jack drilled trying to get to the vault. He's unknowingly awoken two of the last living Eridians that have been placed as guardians over the Vault. As Pandora's past is awoken, pieces of the puzzle starts to fit. Why are current Sirens human? Why weren't there male versions? Why are monsters a part of the Vault entrance? And what is causing the increase of Psycho's on the planet? As Pandora is being ushered into a new era, both experiences and new Vault Hunters must join up to protect this anarchy they love so much.





	1. Mami

The first time Mordecai saw her, she was encased in Eridium. 

It was on some mission Roland had asked him to do. Scope out what Hyperion was doing sending lab techs down into the mines where he was trying to drill out the vault key. Something about how Jack had pulled back the drill to the surface, sent down a team of scientists and had the area heavily secured. So something, more important than the vault, was down there. 

So he had Bloodwing perched on his shoulder, stalking through the tunnels and sniping whoever he came across. Silent, deadly, and calm. The further down the tunnels he went, the more people there were and a lot more LoaderBots hanging around. It was then that the mission got tricky. Somehow, he slipped by with little bloodshed and finally found what Hyperion and Jack were investigating. 

Two girls with long ears like Elves in fairy-tales had been totally frozen in time by the Eridium. Whatever happened when they were encased, in which it looked like a bomb of some type was going off as their hair had been woven among the gem in a harsh wind-like fashion, was frozen with them. 

The one woman had hair of a pinkish nature, eyes closed and her sword drawn like she was prepared to attack. Her attire was strange - greys and pinks that wrapped her body like a knightly armor. Long hair was braided and seemed to be dragging on the ground. 

The other….Well, Mordecai recognized those markings. The other was a Siren. Long black hair braided and tossed over her shoulder, eyes closed and face turning up towards the staff tip she was holding above her head. White bangs fell and framed the soft edges. Her attire was also strange. Gold and white clothes that was held together by jewelry and a sash with feathers. The Siren marks were on her arm, and as Mordecai approaches….wait, were they glowing? 

They were. How long had they glowed? Didn’t matter. He needed intel on these...girls? Ladies? And he needed to get out before he was spotted. 

‘Help….’

The hell? 

He approached the tall Eridium with cautious movements, without thinking his hand touched the glowing purple mineral.

‘Save us. Please. Get us out. It hurts.’ 

What hurt? 

He scanned the area, finally seeing that the Hyperion had attacked some cords into the Eridium after drilling a hole in it. He grabbed one cord, tugging. Then stopped. What was he doing? 

‘Break us out. Crack the crystal. Get is out.’ 

The voice….It was painful to hear. Like listening to a children that had been abused cry and beg for mercy after being caught by the parents telling the cops...and the cops listened to the parents. Soft, low, and much like his first taste of alcohol: intoxicating and addicting. With a huff, he pulled out his dagger. A few good stabs at the Eridium caused it to crack. 

The girls’ eyes shot open. He yelped and stumbled back, Bloodwing screeched and hopped around him, ready to attack if needed. Red eyes from the maiden with the mixed-colored hair stared down at him as the Eridium cracked, threatening to break at any moment. 

‘Thank you. We are coming.’ 

The next thing he remembered was a large crashing noise, like a semi truck full of porcelain rolled over on the highway before the cars smashed into it. A large purple flash of...whatever. Fire? Light? Who knew? 

Then, when he came to, he was back in Sanctuary. Roland was over him with Tannis, both of them looking down at him with interest. Roland explained carefully that Mordecai had a concussion, whatever Jack had been investigating was gone, and by some grace of God Mordecai was found at the front gate with a piece of a white crystal in his hands. 

He had been down there, he remembered that. He told Roland of the girls in the crystal, and the Crimson Raider leader just shrugged it off. “Stop drinking.” he said, very sternly. “You’re gonna get Alzheimer’s if you keep that shit up. Ruining your brain with as much as you drink.” 

A few days later, and a few drinks at Moxxi’s, Mordecai headed back to his outpost in the Dust. Maybe he hit his head bad by whatever he saw down there. Maybe he really drank himself into a stupor this time. 

Then came the second time he saw her. 

One large bottle of Rakk Ale in his hand, freshly opened, and Bloodwing on her perch. It was just kicking up for his morning when he heard a scream. Now, usually screams didn’t bother Mordecai as bandits and psycho’s were nearby, however this sounded...feminine. 

He peered down his sniper rifle, following the sound of the screaming. He saw her, the girl with the duo-colored hair, running for her life from skags. Her attire was tattered and torn, her feet bare, and her companion was out of sight. 

So he wasn’t dreaming. He wasn't drunk. She was real. It all was real. 

‘“Bloodwing.” he commanded, using his hand signal to attack the skags. A screech from his bird of prey and he was off. He shot at the skags the best he could, before leaving what was left of the pack to Bloodwing, climb down his ladder and hop into his car. Best way to catch, secure, and carry that woman to Roland. What better way to prove that you’re right than with actual, physical proof? 

He found her with Bloodwing hopping around before her. Her ankle looked swollen, cuts and bruises along her body that seemed to have been both from the skags and from another source. Finally able to rest for a moment, she looked frightened and stared at him with big doe eyes. 

“Easy, easy amigo.” He muttered, exiting his vehicle without his gun. “I ain’t gonna hurt ya.” 

She eyed his dagger, biting her lip and whimpering. He moved slowly to pull it out, dropping it in the ground. “Better? Nina, I promise I won’t hurt you. We need to get you to a doctor.” 

“D….d-doc….d-doctor?” she repeated, confused. 

Mordecai finally reached her, kneeling down to inspect her ankle. “Yeah...Doctor. He ain’t the best doctor, but he’ll do.” With a sigh, he reached out to the girl. “I’m Mordecai.” 

“M...Mordecai.” she repeated again, looking at his hand. The sniper wasn’t in the mood for whatever this girl had wrong with her head, so he got tired of waiting and instead scooped her up like a child. 

“Yeah.” He said, placing her in the car. Grabbing his dagger and perching Bloodwing in her spot, he set out for Sanctuary. The hot dessert soon became a snowy Tundra, and Mordecai’s driving got worse before they got to Sanctuary. Partly due to him being tipsy, but mostly due to the fact that he had that fucking girl from the Eridium crystal in his passenger seat. 

As always, Roland was at their entrance. He waved to his old-time friend before noticing the passenger. Climbing off of his watchtower, the Crimson Raider leader met the sniper at the closed gate. “What in the hell…?” 

“She’s real.” Mordecai commented, pointing to his female companion. 

“The fuck?”

“The girl in the crystal. There’s one.” 

“I….wow…” Roland looked Marie over, each passing moment the fear in her eyes grew bigger. “Shit….you…..” 

“Doctor?” Marie asked, pointing to her ankle. “Doctor.” 

“Oh...uh, yeah. I’ll radio Zedd. Tell him you’re here….and Tannis.” He pulled out his Echo Communicator as the walls came down. Mordecai exited the vehicle, went around to pick up Marie, and carried her to Zed’s infirmary. 

The moment he got there, the insane bitch Tannis was already bouncing. Literally. 

“Oh, aren’t you gorgeous!” Tannis laughed, looking at the duo. 

“Gracias,” Mordecai snickered, placing the girl on the table and ducked out of a slap from the scientist. 

“OUT!” Tannis shouted, literally chasing the sniper out of the shop with a needle from Zed’s table. She slammed the door as soon as Mordecai was out, locking him and the rest of the citizens out. 

The third time he saw her was the next night. 

Tannis had busted into the Raider’s room, yelling into the sleeping void, “She’s an Eridian!” 

Come again? 

Roland literally rolled out of his bed to hear Tannis rambling to her recorder, notes and details about the girl. Mordecai covered his head with a pillow, grumbling about how the hag needed to shut up. 

“Shut up? Shut up?!” Tannis yelled at Mordecai, pulling his blanket off of him. “This is a discovery! A whole different subsection of Eridian culture! Alive!” She pulled out a small notebook, flipping to a few pages towards the back. “This means everything I’ve been partly correct!” 

“And partly bullshit.” Mordecai yawned, trying to curl back up into the warm bed. 

“Well, yes, but- ROLAND PLEASE GET UP!” Tannis yelled, grabbing the blanket off of Roland and tore it away. “You need to see this!” 

“Can’t it wait until the morning?” the Leader yawned, sitting up. This was worse than when Lilith had her tantrums over sex. 

“No! This….Just, come on!” Tannis yelped, dashing back outside and towards Zed’s house. The blanket being dragged onto the ground in her hurry. 

Mordecai heard Roland sigh in defeat, getting up and sleepily walking towards where Tannis was running her ‘test.’ Mordecai was up-up by now, having been awake too long. Moxxi’s was closed at this time, so no drinking himself to sleep. So, he figured, what the hell. Might as well see what Tannis was going on about. 

When he finally managed to stumble himself to Zed’s, Roland was staring at a door with wide eyes and his jaw hanging on the floor. The duo-colored hair girl was sitting in a chair, an ECHO COM playing on double-time what looked to be like the history channel. Old black-and-white films flashing in mere minutes. The girl would slowly munch on something….was that Skag kebabs? 

“She has six DNA strands!” Tannis chirped. “Six, Roland! We, as humans, have only two!” 

“I know DNA and science.” Roland snapped, watching the girl munch down another kebab and start on another. “So she’s...a Siren?” 

“From what I gathered, not just a Siren.” Tanni pulled out a dry erase board, scribbling on it. As she went into detail with Rolan about the hierarchy of Eridian culture, the Sirens being only half of the equation, and something called “Typhon”, Mordecai sat next to the girl and watched the scenes on her ECHO COM play. 

“Mordecai.” She said, swallowing her mouthful of food. 

“Yeah...You remembered. Good.” He smiled, a bit sleepy and yet so relaxed now knowing that she was okay. That she was real. “You got a name, nina?” 

Marie chewed n her kebab for a moment, looking to be deep in though. She shook her head no, then pointed to her tongue. 

“I can’t say it?” Mordecai asked, and she nodded. “Try me. Tell me what it is.” 

“Mw Naumu Maurou Risaumenk Dustaurkons.” 

Mordecai chewed the saying over in his mouth. It felt...off. “Nu...Nau….Nua….Nope.” He cursed, turning his head and seeing Tannis had last Roland somewhere on her rant and had to start over. “Why don’t we give you a better name? Something people can say without stumbling?” 

She nodded, eager to please and fit in with these people who found her. 

“Diane?” he tried, only for her to make a face. “No? Ariel?” 

She stuck her tongue out. 

“Anastasia?” 

A scrunched nose. 

“Marie?” 

At first, she scrunched her eyebrows in thought. “Ma...Marie?” 

“Yeah, do you like that, amigo?” He moved closer. “Marie was….was my great-grandmother’s name. It sounds like….the one you have in your name.” 

“Maurou?” she repeated. 

“Yeah that one.” He eyed her close, her Siren markings seemed to give off a faint glow. 

“Marie.” she smiled, pointing to herself. Mordecai took the few moments he had to smile at her before Tannis shrieked at Roland to get out. With a promise of seeing her in the morning, Mordecai was dragged away from Tannis, Zed, and Marie. 

From that morning on, the third time turned into a forth. Which turned into a fifth. And now, somehow, it turned into….some large number Mordecai can’t remember. How long had she been within the walls of Sanctuary? Tannis would claim some number, hours, and minute before scurrying off to dote on her ‘project.’ Marie had that woman wrapped around her finger without even realizing it. Tannis was so overly obsessed with Marie that she paid some of the Crimson Raiders to “secure a skag puppy” for Marie as she had kept asking for a skag. When the team came back with a skag puppy and an Elder Skag that had to be captured with it, Marie was overly joyed. Tannis paid tripple what she said and let Marie do as she wish with the skags. 

Mordecai was there for that. Marie locked herself in the back of the pick-up truck with the skags. The Elder Skag hissed and screeched, and Marie just sat on the floor patiently waiting. His rifle was ready, his muscles were tense. One wrong move from the skags, and they’d be dinner for everyone. Alas, as the night approached, the skag puppy waddled its fat, chubby self over to Marie and nuzzled her open hand. A few hums from Marie, and the Elder skag sat next to her, head heavy in her lap. The Siren mark glowed as she petted the skags, both of them being instantly and painlessly branded in the same blue marks as hers. She opened the gate, setting her new pets free into the wild again. Come morning light, a pack of skags were waiting at the front gate like obedient puppies. Each of them with the blue marking of Marie’s mark. When Tannis had asked what she did, Marie had only to reply, “Roland had wanted better protection. So, he has them.” 

She had spent the rest of that day among the skags. Sizing up the adult alpha skag and getting him use to being ridden like a horse. Tannis and Mordecai watched with eagerness, different kinds but still. 

He was there when Tannis insisted Marie get better clothes as Moxxi’s persistence. He rolled his eyes, commenting that as long as Marie was happy in what she wore, who gave a fuck? Moxxi and Lilith did. And they had poisoned Tannis’s mind that she wasn’t taking great care or pride in Marie’s ‘personal hygiene.’ 

Tannis came back from shopping with Marie not even an hour later, Marie in tears as Tannis tried to best to shush her. Mordecai had come down to see the fuss, and felt his blood boil. Marie was in skimpy clothes. A bikini top that barely covered her nipples, low-riding short jeans, and that was it. Tannis had given Marie her coat, but it wasn’t enough to the poor girl. 

“The fuck did you do to her?” Mordecai hissed, jumping over the rails and peeled off his shirt. 

“Moxxi said she went ahead with Lilith to buy Marie clothes.” Tannis tried to explain. “Marie put them on and started bawling. Moxxi threw away her other clothes as soon as Marie took them off, so this is all she has left.” 

Dammit. That fucking bitch. 

“Hey, hey...Ssshhh...sweetheart. Mami.” Mordecai cooed, watching Marie pull his shirt over her body quickly. “Mami, its alright. Its just clothes.” 

“No.” Marie hiccuped. “No….too much. Too much skin...so dirty.” 

Tannis chewed her lower lip, grabbing her wallet and leaving the Raider’s headquarters to find that Claptrap unit. Mordecai just held Marie the best he could, rubbing her back. “What do you mean its dirty?” 

“Only mate…” she choked. “Only my mate can see that much.” 

“Oh, mami.” He muttered, rubbing her back. “Do you want me to run you a bath?” 

“S….see?” 

“Si, mami, si.” he chuckled, helping her up and into the bathroom. This was part of their time together. He taught her Spanish if she agreed to teach him….whatever language she spoke. Tannis had noted one time it was called the Divine Language, but who really gave a shit? 

He started to run the tub, removing his goggles from the steam. Color escaped him as soon as the lenses were off, and it took a moment for his brain to remember he was colorblind. Damn…

He was going to miss seeing those pretty red eyes. 

“I’ll leave ya to it, mami.” Mordecai muttered, getting up to leave. Marie gripped his wrist, looking up at him with eagerness. “Si?” 

“What does that word mean?” she asked, face full of blushing innocence. Damn….Mordecai had to think back to Moxxi’s horrible, cheating ass to stop from getting a boner. 

“I told you. Si means yes.” He commented, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. 

“Not that one. Mami.” She corrected, and he froze. “What does that word mean?” 

“Oh...u-uh…..” He felt his face heat up. “Its...an endearment term.” 

“Endearment?” she questioned. 

“Yeah...u-uh….L-like how Lilith calls Roland ‘hot stuff’ and that other shit.” he tried his best to explain. 

“But I do not desire just intercourse with you.” Marie stated. Mordecai could feel himself grow hotter by the second, and harder by the minute. Shit. 

“I….” he started, then sat down on the edge of the tub. Turning the water off before this conversation began, he had some time to collect his thoughts. “Yes, Lilith just wants to ride Roland’s dick. That much is true. That’s one form of endearment.” He licked his lips, folding his hands together. “Mami is….its kind of like me calling you honey.” 

“Like what Tannis does?” she asked, looking at him eagerly. 

“Sort of.” Shit, this wasn’t easy, was it? “Its….Look, I’ll be blunt. You’re an incredible, amazing….female alien. You’re innocently hot and just….God damn.” Fake titties and paste make-up. Fake titties and paste make-up. 

“Eto’achan’chinout.” 

“What?” Mordecai muttered, looking at her. Her hand moved from his to touch his cheek and she smiled. Why did she smile at him like that? Full of warmth, of joy. No one had smiled at him like that since his Mama Coco. 

“Beloved.” she muttered. “Eto’achan’chinout.” 

He heard Tannis come back home, and decided that was his cue to leave. He left the bathroom, Tannis ranting in one ear that went out the other. He ignored Roland’s comment about him being shirtless, Lilith’s snide remark, and even ignored Brick who genuinely asked if he was okay. The only person he didn’t ignore was Bloodwing, her talons pricking his skin gently as they made their way back to their home in the Dust. It was that night, the first night in a while, that Mordecai gave into his primal pleasures. 

He wondered how she’d feel below him. Or maybe even above? How did she taste? How did she sound? Had she been intimate before? He thought about the many ways they’d worship each other’s bodies in the hot desert, careful not to get sand in places unwanted. Maybe she wouldn’t mind fucking in the oasis he discovered a while ago? That is….if she didn’t mind Mordecai sniping all the local bandits before they got hot and dirty. 

He thought about her in something that would be sexy and not too revealing. God, his fantasy of having a lady in a high-class dress just be violated by him….Would she enjoy that? Stage something like that? Would she even enjoy lace lingerie at least? 

When he finally spent himself, he tossed his dirty clothes in a corner and laid in his bed. Exposed, tired, and relaxed. He turned on his side, reaching into his drawer to grab the white crystal shard he was found with. It hummed and resonated in his hands, sending him into a calm trance and finally to sleep. 

He was in over his head with this woman.


	2. Fated

_The crackling of fire and whimpering of rain. The scent of the salty sea and the breeze of the cold mountains. Wrapped up in a hut of wood and grass, Marie sat before the Wise One and Typhon Druth, the male priest who to guide her and the other priestesses until the next Typhon was found. A complex hierarchy that dictated Druth as both leader and protector. As parent and servant._

_And now was her turn for the Wise Ones to dictate her future._

_All priestesses were honored and happy to have this day upon them. Tales of a happy future, wealth, many children and a large wedding. But for Maurou, this was a day she did not wish would come. Her grandfather had high hopes to marry her off to a neighboring chiefs son, regardless of what the stones and bones dictated. So he was there, in the corner and huffing angrily, watching as Druth made the tea for Maurou to drink and read the leaves. Scatter the rune stones among the mat, and pick a bone from the bag of old leather made from the hide of the first Temple Beast to have fallen._

_The Wise One was a woman, old and wrinkled. Having lived for nearly a hundred years, her sight was long faded. But her hands moved along the stones on the board and she could tell by the feeling of the carved markings what had fallen and where. “Interesting….I never thought I’d come across a reading quite like yours in my lifetime.”_

_“What is it?” Maurou’s grandfather snapped. “My patience is tested, woman!”_

_“Grandfather!” Maurou scolded, surely to be punished at home behind closed doors for raising her voice to the King. “Please, pay your respects! Wise One,” she turned to the woman. “Is it an omen? My marriage?”_

_“An omen for one….and salvation for another.” The Wise One murmured. “Your husband is not yet born, his soul still among the stars. A Red Hunter, born under the sign of Fire, and with a calm tongue and voice of grass he will speak to the animals.”_

_Maurou could almost picture him. Like his soul was nearby, watching her. A star that was not quite ready to give up its light, nor was it ready to keep shining brightly. Just there, among them, shimmering. “And the omen?”_

_The Wise One made a sour look, picking up the small bird-like skull Maurou had grabbed from the bag. “Marry the man the King wishes you to, and our world will fall into ruins.”_

_Maurou’s grandfather lept up fom his spot, spouting obscene things at the WIse One. Druth had clamoured to his feet, holding back the King and escorting him outside. The Wise One just huffed, grabbing a piece of white Eridium and placed it into Maurou’s palm. “Tomorrow, take a silver coin down to the river and pay the beggar for his cup. With that cup, collect the Mother Moondelay from the land which no plant grows. Plant this Eridium in it, and every day at dusk you must give it three drops of your blood.” A sad look crossed her face as she cupped the young girl’s face. “By the time the Omen Wedding shall happen, the crystal will grow and become bonded to you. Use the crystal on the morning of your wedding to finish your betrothed staff. It, alone, can save you. And, in the end, perhaps save us all.”_

_Maurou bowed, forehead to the ground, before exiting out the hut and greeting her grandfather and teacher. The Eridium clutched tightly to her chest, hidden from her grandfather’s eyes…_

Never get close to your patient. Never get close to your subject. Never get close. 

Poor Tannis, it was already too late for her. The moment she saw that alien beauty being brought in to Dr Zed’s office, she was fascinated. Scientifically, at first, and eventually romantically later on. But first, she was close enough to her that she could trace the Siren mark’s on her arm. Mordecai had been talking to Roland in the background about this specimen, where he found her, things she had heard before. The woman in the Eridium, along Jack’s route to the Vault, blah blah blah. 

She brushed long lock out of the woman’s face. Black as night and white as snow at the same time. Long ears that pointed outward a little, like elves of Earthly fairy tales. She was small in physic, her garment was torn to shreds. Nothing looked like it was damaged by Father Time, but rather something recent. When Mordecai mentioned the skag pack that was after her, it made sense then. Skags must’ve torn up whatever she had worn before, and what she had now was what she was left with. Poor thing…..

She instructed Zed to run some simple scans, taking a few vials of blood for her own scientific research. It was there that she discovered who - or rather what - this person before her was. Or rather, the alien lifeform that Tannis could only suspect humans devolved from. 6 DNA strands, one almost 100% match to humans, and the rest she could only suspect it to be the lifeform of other beings on Earth and Pandora for that matter. Deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole she went, until the woman had spoken up and made a scared whimpering noise. 

So cute. She peered over her laptop and instantly felt her world shatter at the sight of big eyes, red irises, staring at her behind the glass container Zed had her in for running tests. 

Beautiful. Like staring into rubies that had been tossed into a kindling, embering fire. The woman tapped at the glass, mouthing some language Tannis hadn’t understood. She looked so scared, like a lost kitten, that Tannis wanted to pick her up and hold her close. 

The beginning of her demise. She remembered her relationship with the last person, how they ended up as skag meat and how tired she was after mourning. How broken she was having been left alone for so long, void of human touch, that she developed whatever relationship she could with psycho’s and her own damn recording unit! She didn’t want to be that void again. She didn’t want that…..

And yet, here was this beautiful alien girl behind a glass, tears forming in her eyes. For once, perhaps, Tannis would try and allow herself some comfort in this other female. 

The hours turned into days from there. Tannis had released the woman, argued with Roland over keeping the woman there, and (ugh) even dealt with that sappy drunk Mordecai coming around stinking up the place with his stupid bird. It was all worth it, even the dumb (yet oddly suiting) name Mordecai picked out for her. “Marie”

Once night Tannis had been brushing Marie’s long black hair, setting it into a braid for the night. Careful to not get any of the white bangs mixed in with the darker part of the hair, Marie had asked, “Why does Mordecai drink so much?” 

“Because he is a product of incest, I suppose.” Tannis hissed, trying to remain focused on treating Marie as gently as possible. “That, or he’s still stupidly in love with Moxxi, who won’t give him a second look.” 

“Moxxi has already said she will not take advances from him again.” Marie muttered, her hands tracing over her blue marks. “And Mordecai has called her several names. Words you said I shouldn’t repeat.” 

“True.” Tannis remarked, grabbing a hair tie and bonding the ends of the hair together. “He is a very sad, depressed man, Marie. I suspect he is drinking to null the senses. Why are you concerning yourself with him, anyway?” 

In the mirror across the room she could see it, the redness on Marie’s face slowly creeping. “He is...I can see within him, that he is very troubled. There is a light, though. A warm, loving light. I haven’t felt a light like his since my teacher’s.” 

“I see…” Tannis gulped, attempting to change the subject. “What do you see within me? A brighter light?” 

Gazes met in the mirror briefly, before Marie broke the contact. “Tannis, I do see a light in you. Though different than the light I see in Mordecai. It is just as warm and loving as his, though different.” She chewed on her lower lip, a nervous tick Tannis had noted. “I’m not sure how though.” 

“Honey, you really shouldn’t hang around Mordecai.” Tannis muttered, finishing up the tidying of her hair. “He’s bad news, really. Worse than Brick. And aren’t you afraid of him?” 

“He likes me being pretty.” Marie blushed. “Brick brings me flowers when he can find them. Shows me pictures of puppies from the books and tells me all about them. That skags are kind of like puppies.” 

Tannis rolled her eyes, getting off the bed and going over to the recording device to stop the recording when Marie said one more thing that interested her for the day. “If Lilith isn’t careful, Roland will get tired of the game she plays and find another to warm his bed.” 

Tannis snickered, “Perhaps he’ll ask you to join him for a night of fun in his bedroom?” 

Marie blushed, pulling the shirt up over her cheeks. “I could never! I-I must save myself for my husband!” 

Husband? 

“Are you married?’ Tannis asked, “You realize...there’s very little chance they’re still alive?” 

“I was...I was to be married off at one point. But my wedding was foretold to be an omen.” Marie sighed, reaching for her staff. It never left her side as of late, and seemed to be some sort of comforting blanket one might let a child have. “The Wise One had told my grandfather so. That my husband was not yet born and I was to wait for him.” 

Tannis sat on the edge of the bed, voice recorded in hand. “Go on?” 

“My grandfather...he was basically the grand ruler of my time. He had wanted me to meet and marry a son of a neighboring chief’s tribe, to strengthen our kingdoms after years of war and bloodshed. However, the Wise One had told him that to force me into that marriage was to seal the fate of our world.” 

Tannis watched the hands tremble, reaching over to hold them. “On the day of my wedding, I did as the Wise One asked. My Eridium crystal...sat atop my betrothal staff. At the altar, before I could make my vows, the Guardians attacked. My Guardian attacked….it went berserk.” 

Guardian? “Are you….trying to say that the Vault Guardians were like your pets?!” Tannis yelped. 

“One priestess for every guardian.” Marie explained. “Mine was Ausa, Guardian of the Water. She...she made a horrible sound and started screaming.” Marie shivered. “I tried to calm her down, I really did! But she wouldn’t stop, and the waves...they were washing everyone away. My grandfather was drowned, others were burned, some were swallowed by the ground. I had no choice.” She teared up at her confessions, like the whole damned extinction of her kind was her fault. 

“I had my Paladin perform the Rite of Time with me, and froze the three of us in Eridium.” 

 

“So...now that you’re free...Wait a minute, the other girl in the Eridium with you?” Tannis was putting the pieces together, why Marie was outside of the town for so long. Why she had asked Brick if he or his men had seen a woman with bright flower red hair. “That other woman was your Paladin.” 

“Isa.” Marie said. “If she’s out there, she’s scared. I know you want me to stay here and be safe, but I feel like when I talk to Roland he dismisses me too easily. I pray he is looking, but-” 

“Hush.” Tannis sighed, angry. Her darling test subject had been through too much. “Tomorrow I’ll discuss with Roland why he hasn’t been searching.” She helped Marie get into bed, watching the girl remove the pillow (again) and lay flat on the bed. 

Once she was sure Marie was asleep, Tannis set to work. One strongly worded ECHO recording to Roland sent and to be used as a bitchy alarm. She had a few favors to call in with him and, sadly, she would have to call the smelly birdman as well. 

Tannis had made her way down to Moxxi’s bar, really not enjoying the sounds and the rabble. She spotted Mordecai alone, in a corner, drinking what looked like his 6th or 7th bottle, counting the empty ones on his table. “Mordecai.” Tannis said, sitting across from him. “I need your assistance.” 

“Not right now. Too drunk.” Mordecai laughed, feeding Bloodwing some more skag meat from the stick. 

“It needs to be done in the morning. Its for Marie.” Tannis objected. Almost immediately, Mordecai’s attention was focused on her as best as it could be. “I need all the details you can give to me and Roland about the second woman in the Eridium. Apparently that’s Marie’s bodyguard, and she’s worried about her.” 

“Do you one better. You got those clothing scraps from Marie when she first came? I’ll have Bloodwing track the scent that isn’t hers.” Mordecai said, proud if having some sort of bloodhound bird crossbred animal. “Find her in no time.” 

Tannis smirked, playing her cards right. “How much will this cost?” 

“For Mami? Free.” Mordecai chugged another bottle down. “Unless you’re willing to buy me another few rounds once we find the other girl.” 

The scientist just smiled, setting down some credits on the table and leaving. Perfect. 

Everything was just perfect for the moment.


End file.
